PRO RODEO: Bulls 10, Riders 0 a rare occurrence in Augusta

AUGUSTA – A standing-room only crowd of over 4,000 – almost 20 times the number of residents here – were witnesses to a couple of rarities in the world of the Professional Rodeo Cowboys Association.

First, there were two rodeo clowns on hand to entertain the masses.

Second, there were no qualified bull rides. None. Zip. Nada. Zilch. Nien. Et cetera. You get the picture.

The hard part is going to be trying to determine which one is rarer than cutting into a steak that moos back at you; one that is so rare, a good vet could have it back on its hooves in 20 minutes.

Thank you. I'm here until August, and I do Bar Mitzvahs.

Usually, only one clown is brought in to entertain the crowd at any given rodeo, so when Tate Rhoads of Custer and Timber Tuckness from Meteetsee, Wyo., stepped into the arena, it was extra special.

Fortunately, rodeo clowns are just as much of a brotherhood as rodeo cowboys. And Tate and Timber put on a great show.

"Yeah, this is the first time we've ever got to work together, I guess, as far as clowning together," Rhoads, who wound up being "the man in the can" during bull riding (he was in the yellow barrel, which is a prime target for a 3/4-ton pot roast with a bad attitude), said. "We had a blast.

"When you got two guys working together that know what rodeo is about and know what they're doing and know how to entertain crowds, it seems to go pretty easy, especially when you've got a good announcer (Arlee's Barney Sheridan) and a good sound lady behind you."

Rhoads noted that Tuckness has been entertaining crowds all of his life, while Rhoads said he was "well on my way. I've been doing it since I was 14 years old (no, I didn't ask his age). It's definitely not my first rodeo."

"I think the first time I was here – I was trying to figure that out a minute ago – it was 1996," said the veteran Tuckness. "And I worked it for about 20 years, then took a couple of years off and came back ... so I think it's been 25 or 26 years.

"I can't exactly nail it down to the right number, but it's darn close."

Tuckness agreed that having two clowns at one rodeo is a "once in a blue moon" event, but it does happen.

"It happens once in a while; sometimes it's a mistake, sometimes it's an accident, and sometimes we just plan it that way," he added. "And we clowns communicate with each other all the time, so Tate found out I was coming, and then he sent a text back and said, 'Yeah, I'm coming.'

"And I said, 'Oh, well that's cool!’ There's nothing more fun than working with another rodeo clown. Most of the time, you're by yourself. So when things are slow, or you need a little help ... that extra little kick in there really helped. And you know what? The audience loved it!"

Augusta got even more entertainment from professional horse trainer Felix Santana and his trained Andalusian stallion, "Romano."

What Santana and Romano did out in the arena was just nothing short of an art form. And the crowd went wild.

"It's definitely time-consuming, and you have a crowd that really appreciates your art," Santana said. "It's a lot of practice, a lot of repetition, a lot of hours, and making sure that your horse is always will to do it, and he's happy to do it, so you want to keep him to where he doesn't go sour on it."

Santana also brought another stallion with him for help presenting the colors for the beginning of the rodeo, a Parisian stallion named "Tornado."

"This horse was imported from the Netherlands, and I trained him," Santana explained. "And a friend of mine owned him, and they were kind enough to lease him out to me."

Romano looked like he wanted to have a word with me as well: "Hey, he might," Santana said. "That's about all that he has left to do is to start talking (remember 'Mister Ed?'). He knows how to do everything else."

As for the rodeo, the story of the bull riding can be summed up in three words: "No qualified rides" among the 10 contestants, who each collected more than their entry fees in return: $192.70 for each cowboy.

In quite the contrast, there was only one bareback rider entered, so when Ty Owens of Helena reached the eight-second whistle, and had the option of taking his score of 65.5 points or taking a re-ride, he proved that his mama didn't raise a fool. He took the score and walked away with the buckle and the whole ball of wax in the prize money: $1,447.60.

Liam Pauley of Miles City took top honors in saddle bronc with 82 points, good enough for the top prize of $744.48, while co-contestant Jesse Kruse – who now calls Fromberg home – left the arena with the All-Around Cowboy saddle. Kruse took second in saddle bronc, and took home a check for $465.30.

"It sure helps when you draw a good horse like that," Pauley said after receiving the silver belt buckle. "Everything came together and I'm just tickled about it.

"Half of it is the horse, and the other half is you ... and if you don't have a good dancing partner, it's pretty hard to make a good ride. ..."

Helena's Austin Whitehouse won $752 in steer wrestling, while Augusta's native son and NAIA National wrestling champion Ross Mosher took second and $564. In team roping, Ian Austiguy of Gallatin Gateway and Sam Levine of Wolf Creek earned $954.10 each for their six-second run, and Washington stater Caleb Berquist of LaCrosse tied his calf up in 11 seconds flat, and won $770.80.

In ladies' events, barrel racer Tia Murphy of Cut Bank circled the cloverleaf pattern in 17.35 second, taking home $859.39, and Molly Salmond of Choteau and Montana State University earned a check for $1,144.92 in breakaway roping with a top time of 3.2 seconds.

"We had a nice day, a nice crowd – a good crowd; better than last year," rodeo director Ben Arps said, still holding the bull riding belt buckle than nobody won.

This article originally appeared on Great Falls Tribune: Rodeo roundup: Bulls 10, Riders 0 a rarity at PRCA's Augusta